Sarskoye Gorodishche facts for kids
Sarskoye Gorodishche or Sarsky Fort (which means "Citadel on the Sara" in Russian) was an old fortified town. It existed during the Middle Ages in what is now Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. This ancient settlement was built on the bank of the Sara River, not far from Lake Nero. It was located south of the modern city of Rostov. Many historians believe Sarskoye Gorodishche was an earlier version of Rostov.
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Discovering the Ancient Fort
This old site first caught the eye of Russian archaeologists in the mid-1800s. It was very large, bigger than any other similar site in the area.
Early Digs and Finds
In 1854, a man named Count Aleksey Uvarov started digging here. His team found many amazing objects that belonged to the Varangians. These items were similar to things found in Scandinavia. One special find was a sword from the Carolingian Empire with the words "Lun fecit" carved into it.
Many people have continued to dig at Sarskoye Gorodishche over the years. One of them was the famous artist Nicholas Roerich, who explored the site in 1903. He wrote in his diary that road builders had sadly damaged a lot of the site.
What Soviet Archaeologists Found
Later, Soviet archaeologists continued the excavations. They thought the site was not just a Norse (Viking) settlement. Instead, they believed it was a major center, maybe even the capital, of the Merya people. The Merya were a Finnic tribe who lived in the region before the Slavs arrived.
According to the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, the Merya town started around the 500s AD. However, its strong walls and defenses were built by the Slavs in the 900s AD. The settlement became less important in the late 900s. But it seems to have lasted until the 1200s. That's when it was first mentioned in a major historical record as "Sarskoe Gorodishche."
Sarskoye Fort vs. Rostov City
The oldest known wooden pathways in Rostov have been dated to the year 963 AD. Scientists used a method called dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) to figure this out. These wooden pieces were found in digs after 1949. They helped us learn a lot about Rostov's very early years.
Around the same time, Sarskoye Gorodishche started to decline. It's still a mystery whether the town simply moved to a new spot. We also don't know if Sarskoye Gorodishche's original Slavic name was Rostov or something else. Some historians think the first name of the settlement might have been Arsa. This Arsa could have been the capital of a mysterious land called Arsania, mentioned by an old writer named Ibn Hawqal.
Why Did They Move?
Historians find it hard to explain why people left the good location of Sarskoye. They moved to a marshy area where Rostov now stands. One idea is that the town moved mainly for religious reasons. They wanted the town to be near a rocky island that had an important holy place for the god Veles.
Whatever the reasons for Sarskoye's decline, other similar sites also lost their importance around the same time. These include Timeryovo near Yaroslavl and Gnezdovo near Smolensk.
Images for kids
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One of the excavators of Sarskoye was Nicholas Roerich. Illustrated is his painting The Town Is Being Built (1902).
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Rostov as seen from Lake Nero
